Here they come, DC…Imagine the traffic congestion this truck convoy will cause around Washington, where the roads are normally smooth sailing on a weekday morning…Yup. This should get people’s attention.

If truckers really think government should intervene in this case, why have they fought the government when it tries require cleaner engines, cleaner fuel and cleaner air? Someone, somewhere is benefiting from high diesel prices, and I bet they can afford some pretty sharp lobbyists.

I’m sympathetic to the trucking industry’s fuel-induced pain. But if I had to place a bet, I would put my money on nothing much happening at all. A true, long-term solution is likely to induce further pain, or pain in some other area of the body politic.

The problem is our myopia. The US is used to being — has been for nearly 20 years — the sole superpower and chief consumer of natural resources. The ride’s over, but we are so enamored of our recent size and strength, we fail to see beyond our borders, that other countries are getting bigger, if not yet stronger.

Failing any other solution, we can always fall back on the free market: if something costs more, buy less of it. Oh, but we need trucks to haul things a long distance. Fair enough. Here’s another tip from the free market: if it costs a lot to haul something a long way, make it closer to home.

Maybe truckers undermined by high diesel prices can start growing rice. We may need it.

Here’s news of a planned truck convoy next Monday to DC…It’s leaving at 5am from a restaurant in Lebanon County, east of Harrisburg. It’s great to see someone take a stand against high gas prices, but as I’ve said before, I don’t see it making a bigdifference.

If gas prices really really upset people, they would base their votes on it in this election. But we are fairly well schooled to think that our votes, our politics, make no impact on the economy. This survey seems to confirm that. Until people decide otherwise – or buy smaller cars en masse – they will be nothing more than a nuisance to oil companies and oil-producing nations.